POWs and MIAs remembered in Taunton ceremony

Sunday

Mar 30, 2014 at 11:51 PMMar 31, 2014 at 12:22 AM

Marc Larocque Enterprise Staff Writer @Enterprise_Marc

It may have been pouring rain, but the Taunton Area Vietnam Veterans Association said the weather would never stop the group from holding its annual POW/MIA Remembrance Day ceremony, which took place for the 32nd straight year on Sunday.

“The weather is not in our favor,” said Bob Silvia, president of the Taunton Area Vietnam Veterans Association. “But what is worse, a day of inclement weather or not having full closure for the loved ones? Amazingly, we have gone through three decades since we first started this ceremony. To us it seems like yesterday, but to the families of the POW/MIAs it seems like an eternity. We are here and you are also here, which shows that you want to learn more about the issue or are showing us support, which we appreciate so much.”

About 50 guests packed together under several open air tents that were set up next to Taunton’s Vietnam War Memorial Fountain.

Dennis Proulx, vice president of the Taunton group, said that, “We vowed 33 years ago that we’ll do this ceremony no matter if it rains, snows, sleet or whatever,” adding that, “We remember the POW/MIAs in the rain just as well as in the sun.”

The event is held each year on the last Sunday of March, to draw attention to the 39 Vietnam veterans from Massachusetts, and 1,642 from throughout the country, who remain unaccounted for as prisoners of war or missing in action servicemen, in addition to POWs and MIAs from other wars.

“Days like today remind me of how proud I am to serve this great community of Taunton, a community that truly recognizes the importance of our veterans, and we will remain dedicated to bringing them home at all costs,” said Taunton Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr. “To the family members of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation, your loss can never be fully understood and our debt to you will never be repaid.”

Barbara Grzyb, a special guest speaker for the event, is a regional coordinator of the National League of Families. Her brother was a POW who died in Cambodia in 1969 at age 21; his body was never returned.

“It doesn’t matter who they are, they are they are Americans, so they need to come home,” Grzyb said.

Grzyb talked about her experiences meeting other former POWs who knew her brother, Robert Gryzb, and were able to return to the U.S. alive.

Grzyb emphasized the continuing work done by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, the U.S. Department of Defense research group that goes on missions to recover the remains of POWs and MIAs. Grzyb said JPAC is currently in Cambodia, looking for people like her brother, whom the government reported died in captivity after two years.

“JPAC are in Cambodia right now and half been there for 3½ weeks,” Grzyb said. “This is what families go through, military, civilian and all of the above. They are now going back into all the files for information from civilians who were there and were POWs and came home.”

Ted Aub, state coordinator for the Connecticut Chapter of the National League of Families of POW/MIAs, gave other statistics, including that there are also 3,350 POW/MIAs unaccounted for from World War I, 78,000 from World War II, 8,000 from the Korean War, 40 from the Persian Gulf War and one from the War in Afghanistan.

“We’re guided by the principal of freedom, liberty and brotherhood to ensure we maintain our focus on the issue at hand,” Aub said.

State Rep. Shaunna O’Connell, R-Taunton, said that JPAC is making progress every year, case-by-case. O’Connell said Arthur Richardson, who was lost on Jan. 1, 1951, in South Korea, was accounted for on March 21, 2014, and will be buried with full military honors. O’Connell, who spoke of other recent JPAC, said that in future years the 39 Vietnam POW/MIAs from Massachusetts will decrease in number as people keep the cause alive.

“These veterans here don’t take for granted that they came home,” O’Connell said. “They count their blessing because the know what it’s like to wonder which one is going to make it home.”

State Sen. Marc Pacheco, D-Taunton, said that the rain in Taunton on Sunday during the ceremony is nothing like how the rain was in Vietnam when American soldiers were over there serving during the war.

“Being here is the least we can do as free Americans, until they all come home,” Pacheco said. “These guys will be here every year until every POW/MIA is accounted for and that’s the way it should be.”

The Taunton Area Vietnam Veterans Association thanked the crowd, gathered under tents set up because of the rain, for coming to the ceremony.

“Please share what you learned here today with friends, coworkers and families,” said Silvia, the president of the group. “And remember, it’s not over until everyone is home.”